Door lock



Feb. 28, 1956 J. H. ROETHEL DOOR LOCK Filed Jan. 4, 1954 rl lllillll l IN V EN TOR. Jb/l/V f/ Peer/ EL BY T TOP/YE) United States Patent DOOR LQCK John H. Roethel, Coral Gables, Fla., assignor to Roethcl Engineering Corporation, Detroit, Mich, a corporation of Michigan Application January 4, 1954, Serial No. 401,936

6 Claims. (Cl. 292-166) This invention relates to a latch control mechanism for swinging doors, particularly the doors of automobile or other vehicle bodies, an object of the invention being to provide an improved door latch mechanism which is characterized by its simplicity and compactness in construction and which is economical to manufacture, comparatively quiet in operation and efiicient in use.

The improved door latch mechanism of the present invention comprises a substantially vertically slidable latch bolt normally urged into latching engagement with a striker or keeper device mounted on a body pillar, latch device release means for disengaging the latch device from the striker or keeper device, said release means including an actuator which is preferably a pivotally mounted lever, and a pivoted member having blocking means which may be positioned in blocking relation to a blocking portion on the release means actuator to render the latter inoperative to effect disengagement of the latch device from the striker or keeper device.

More particularly the door latch embodied in the present invention comprises a support having a main plate portion. A vertically slidable latch plate or bolt is mounted on the front face of the main plate, said bolt having a tooth-like portion thereof normally projecting into keeper or striker engaging position. An actuator, preferably a pivotally movable lever, is mounted on the rear or opposite side of said plate portion, said actuator having a part thereof in opposing relation to a part of said latch bolt, one of said parts projecting through an aperture in said plate portion in said opposing relation to the other of said parts. The actuator is adapted to be moved by outer manually operable means, such as a push button mounted in the outside door handle, and when so moved its part Wiil abut the latch bolt and thereby shift the latch bolt in unlatching direction. The actuator is provided with a blocking portion thereon. A blocking means is mounted on the support and is shiftable into blocking relation to the actuator blocking portion by inner manually operable means. In the illustrated embodiments the inner manually operable means is effective upon being shifted in one direction to place the blocking means in blocking relation to the blocking portion and when shifted in the opposite direction is effective to move the latch bolt out of keeper engagement independently of the outer manually operable means.

Other objects and features of this invention will appear in the following description and appended claims, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings forming a partof this specification wherein like reference characters designate corresponding parts in the several views.

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of the latch mechanism of the present invention and illustrating the relationship in latched position of the latch bolt thereof to a striker or keeper device mounted on a body pillar.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the mechanism shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a top elevation.

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Fig. 4 is a view in part sectional taken substantially through line 4-4 of Fig. 1 looking in the direction of the arrows 44.

Before explaining in detail the present inventionit is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and arrangement of parts illustrated in the accompanying drawing, since the invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced or carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology or tenninology employed herein is for the purpose of descrip-- tion and not limitation.

in the drawings there is illustrated by way of example, a particular embodiment of the present invention as applied to the doors and frame structures of an automobile. The embodiment comprises a case plate 10 pro vided with screw bosses 10a which are adapted to receive screws for fastening the case plate preferably to the outer side of the jamb portion or free edge wall of the vehicle door, the case plate 10 having a flange 11 which is adapted to project through an aperture in the free edge wall of the door and to be positioned along the inner panel of the door. The case plate 10 is adapted to be mounted on the door with its longitudinal axis extending substantially in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the door. Secured to the front face 10b of the case plate It? is a substantially rectangular housing 12 having an opening at the lower edge 12a thereof. Slidably retained for movement in a substantially up and down direction between the plate portion 13 of the housing 12 and the face 10b of the case plate 10 is a latch plate or bolt 14.

The illustrated latch plate or bolt 14 is preferably molded of a plastic material, such as nylon, which is characterized by its low coefficient of friction when sliding on steel and which has low adhesion to ice and therefore will not readily freeze to the case plate 15). As illustrated, the latch plate or bolt 14 has a crosssectional thickness substantially equal to the distance between the case plate surface 10b and the inner face of the housing plate portion 13. The fit of the latch plate or bolt 14 between the two plate surfaces is such that the plate will be freely movable therebetween.

in order to lighten the latch plate or bolt 14 and to save on the quantity of material used therein, the latch plate or bolt 14 is provided with a number of recesses in the side thereof adjacent the face 1% of the case plate 10, some of the recesses having functional utility as will be hereinafter explained. T he latch plate or bolt 14 is an elongated and vertically extending member and is provided with a tooth-like projection 15 thereon extending below the lower edge 12a of the housing 12. The tooth-like projection is adapted to engage a striker or keeper as illustrated in Fig. 1, the keeper being generally designated 16.

Associated with the latch plate or bolt 14 is a latch device release actuator which is preferably a substantially vertically extending lever, generally designated 17,

which is pivoted intermediate its ends upon a shoulder rivet or stud 18. The release lever is mounted on the inner face of the case plate 10. When the present latch mechanism is mounted on the free edge wall of a door the release lever 17 will be on the inner side ofv the door frame structure, the free edge wall of the door being apertured to accommodate the release lever 17 and other members of the latch mechanism mounted on the 'inner face 100 of the case plate 10. The release lever 17 is providedwith two arm portions, one arm 19 extending at a slight angle below the horizontal from the pivot stud 18 toward the flange 11 and the second arm 20 extending in a substantially vertical direction down- "wards "rad raving a'n eiteisten 21 at the lower'end thereof substantially paralleling said first lever arm 19. The arm 19 is provided at the free end thereof with a-projec t ion or=lug22 'adaptedto proj'ect through an aperture 23 in the case plate towardthe latch plate or bolt 14. The lug 22 projects throughthe aperture '23 into a recess portion 24 of the latch plate or bolt and underlies the edge 25 of a wall section-26 thereof. By virtue of this consideration, the release lever 17 and the latch plate or bolt 14 are so related that if the release lever is swung in -a clockwise direction as viewed in Fig, 1, the lug 22 will abut the edge 25 of the latch plate or bolt 14 and thereby lift'the latter upwardly in unlatching direction.

The downwardly extending arm 24) of the release lever 17 is formed with a-flange 20a thereon. This lever arm '20 is adapted'to be engaged on the outer side of the flange 20a by an outside manually operable means, such as a push button 27, for imparting the pivotal or swinging movement to the release lever 17 necessary to cause unlatching movement of the latch plate 14.

The latch plate or bolt 14 is yieldingly urged toward latching direction and the release lever 17 is urged toward its normal position shown in Fig. 1 by a single cylindrical coil spring 28. The spring 28 is seated in an upwardly opening recess 29 in the latch plate or bolt 14. At its upper end the spring 28 abuts against the underside of the housing 12 which is provided with an indentation 30 which projects sufliciently into the upper end of the coil spring thereby keeping said end centrally positioned relative to the recess 30. The spring 28 thus urges the latch plate or bolt 14 downwardly at all times, the downward movement being limited by a lug or stop 31 lanced outwardly from the front face 1% of the main plate portion 10 and positioned to abut the upper edge 32 of a recess 33 in the bolt 14. The spring 28 urges the'latch plate or bolt 14 downwardly at all times so as to yieldingly maintain the toothlike projection 15 thereon in striker or keeper device engaging position. Because of the abutting relation of the latch plate edge 25 and the lug orprojection 22 on the end of the release lever arm 19, the spring 28 will also function to urge the release lever 17in a'counterclockwise direction, as viewed in Fig. 2, about its pivotal axis 18. Thus, the single spring 28 -is utilized to maintain the latch plate or bolt 14 andth'e release lever 17 in their normal positions.

The present latch mechanism incorporates a remote control mechanism so constructed as to permit movement of the latch plate or bolt 14 independently of the release lever 17. This remote control mechanism comprises a bell cranklever 34 preferably manually actuated from the inside of the door remote from the case plate 10 by means of a door handle (not shown) mounted on the inner panel of the vehicle door. Referring 'particularly to Fig. 2, the bell'crank lever 34 is pivotally mounted on the flange 11 by means of a pivot or shoulder stud 35. The bell crank lever 34 is provided with a substantially upwardly extending arm 36 and a substantially horizontally extending arm 37, the arm 36 being adapted to be connected by a draft link 38 to the inside door handle mechanism. The bell crank lever arm 37 is offset at 'its'free end and extends through an aperture or slot 39 in -thecase'iplate -10-so as tounderlie an edge 40-of theaforeme'ntioned recess 23 in the latch plate or 'bolt 14,'the'recess '23 being the same recess as receives thelug-24 on the release lever arm 19. Movement of ;the bell cranklever 34in a clockwise direction, as viewed crank lever 34. Referring particularly to Fig. 4, it Will 'benoted'thatthebelhcranklever arm 37 is provided with a lug or projection '"41 extending away from the flange 11. As shown in Fig. 4, the bell crank lever 34 is swingable in a counterclockwise direction so that the lug 41 may be positioned between the flange 11 and the end of the release lever arm 21, thus preventing the release lever 17 from being swingable in a clockwise direction, as viewed in Fig. 1. Thus, the outer manually operable means, such as the push button 27, is rendered inoperative to swing the release lever 17 in bolt or latch plate 14 raising direction.

It will be noted with reference to Fig. 4 that the bell crank lever arm 37, when in release lever blocking position, has its end portion 37a in abutting relation to an edge 42 of the bolt recess 23. This relationship provides a kick-out means, that is, a means for restoring the bell crank lever arm 37 to non-blocking position in the event that the arm 37 is placed in blocking position when the vehicle door is open and the door is then closed. It will be understood that when the door is closed the bolt 14 upon engagement with the striker 16 will be raised upwardly. The upward movement of the bolt 14 is sufficient to raise the lever arm 37 far enough to position the blocking lug 41 out of the path of the end of the release lever arm 21. The next time the release lever 17 is swung to raise the latch bolt, the arm 21 will lift the bell-crank arm 37 to restore it fully to its normal position as shown in Fig. 4 in solid line.

In the illustrated embodiment, the release lever 17 may be blocked against swinging movement only through manipulation of the bell crank lever arm 34 which is operated from the inside of the vehicle door. When it is desired that provision be made for locking the vehicle door from the outside of the vehicle, the present latch mechanism is intended to be used with a type of outside manually operablemeans wherein the key locking means accessible from the outside of the vehicle door renders said outside manually operable means inoperative rather than affecting the latch mechanism itself. The foregoing arrangement is generally desired only on one or both of the front doors-of the vehicle, the rear doors being capable of being locked only from the inside.

Figs. 1 and 2 illustrate the cooperative relationship between the latch plate or bolt 14 and the keeper or striker device, hereinbefore generally designated 16, to hold the vehicle door in latched position. In general, the keeper or striker 16 comprises a G-shaped structure having upper and lower body portions 43 and 44. The upper body portion 43 is formed at its upper edge with two integral upstanding tooth-like projections 45 and 46 which the latch plate projection 15 is adapted to engage to hold the door in either safety or final locking position. When the projection 15 is in engagement with the keeper tooth 45 the door is in safety latching position and when the projection 15 is in engagement with the tooth 46 the door is in final locking position.

The upper surface 47 of'the lower body portion 44 forms a ramp engageable by a suitably contoured dovetail or abutment 48 fastened to the front face of the case plate 10. A yieldable wedging means is carried on the underside of the upper body portion 43 of the striker device and engages the upper surface of the dovetail or abutment 48 to firmly hold the door against vibratory movement in a vertical plane. The wedging means in the present instance comprises a wedge block 49 controlled by a compression spring 50, the wedge block and spring being slidably retained within a recess 51 in the lower surface of the upper body portion 43 by means of a guide rod 52 fastened to the end walls of the recess 51. The spring is installed under initial compression and urges the wedge outwardly or to the right as viewed in Fig. 1. During closing movement of the door, the wedge block 49 is carried inwardly to some extent against the resistance of the spring 50, the wedge block tending to tighten itself against the upper surface of the abutment W muor dovetail 48 and hence maintaining the latch plate projection in engagement with the striker or keeper tooth 46 and also minimizing any possible vibratory movement of the vehicle door.

It will be noted that although a compression spring 28 is provided to urge the latch plate or bolt 14 downwardly into latching engagement with the striker or keeper 16, the latch plate or bolt 14 being movable in a substantially up and down direction will normally tend to maintain itself in latching engagement with the striker or keeper. Thus, even if the spring 28 should ultimately fail, the vehicle door may still be latched so as to be maintained in a closed position until repairs can be made. This will, of course, be recognized as being an important feature from a safety standpoint.

I claim:

1. In a latch mechanism for a swinging door, a support having a plate portion adapted to be mounted on the vertical free edge wall of the door, a vertically slidable latch device mounted on the outer side of said plate portion for movement between a door latched and a door unlatched position, said latch device having a striker engaging portion at the lower end thereof, spring means urging said latch device into door latched position, an actuator mounted on the inner side of said plate portion and having a blocking portion, said actuator having a part thereof projecting through an aperture in said plate portion and arranged in opposing relation to a part of said latch device, said actuator being shiftable by outer manually operable means to cause said parts to abut and raise the latch device out of striker engagement and to move said blocking portion transversely of the door in the direction of the inner edge of the plate portion, and an inner manually operable member pivotally mounted on said support and having a portion shiftable in one direction into position between said blocking portion and the inner edge of said plate portion to block movement of said actuator and thereby render the same inoperative to move said latch device to a door unlatched position, said inner manually operable member being shiftable in the opposite direction out of blocking position with respect to said actuator and into position to move said latch device into door unlatched position independently of said actuator.

2. In a latch mechanism for a swinging door, a support having a plate portion adapted to be mounted on the vertical free edge wall of the door, a vertically slidable latch device mounted on the outer side of said plate portion for movement between a door latched and a door unlatched position, said latch device having a striker engaging portion at the lower end thereof, spring means urging said latch device into door latched position, an actuator mounted on the inner side of said plate portion and having a blocking portion, said actuator having a part thereof projecting through an aperture in said plate portion and arranged in opposing relation to a part of said latch device, said actuator being shiftable by outer manually operable means to cause said parts to abut and raise the latch device out of striker engagement and to move said blocking portion transversely of the door in the direction of the inner edge of the plate portion, and an inner manually operable member pivotally mounted on said support and having a portion shiftable in one direction into position between said blocking portion and the inner edge of said plate portion to block movement of said actuator and thereby render the same inoperative to move said latch device to a door unlatched position, said inner manually operable member being shiftable in the opposite direction out of blocking position with respect to said actuator and into position to move said latch device into door unlatched position independently of said actuator, said inner manually operable member when in blocking position having a part engageable by said latch device upon movement of the latter in unlatching direction to move said member out of blocking position with respec to said actuator.

3. In a latch mechanism for a swinging door, a support having a plate portion adapted to be mounted on the vertical free edge Wall of the door, a vertically slidable latch device means mounted on the outer side of said plate portion for movement between a door latched and a door unlatched position, said latch device means having a striker engaging portion at the lower end thereof, spring means urging said latch device means into door latched position, a first lever means pivotally mounted on the inner side of said plate portion and having a blocking portion, one of said means having a part thereon projecting through an aperture in said plate portion and arranged in opposing relation to a part of the other means,

said first lever means being shiftable by outer manually operable means to cause said parts to abut and raise the latch device means out of striker engagement and to move said blocking portion transversely of the door in the direction of the inner edge of the plate portion, and a second lever means pivotally mounted on said support and having a portion shiftable in one direction into position between said blocking portion and the inner edge of said plate portion to block movement of said first lever means and thereby render the same inoperative to move said latch device means to door unlatched position, said second lever means being shiftable in the opposite direction out of blocking position with respect to said first lever means into position to move said latch device means into door unlatched position independently of said first lever means.

4. In a latch mechanism for a swinging door, a support having a plate portion adapted to be mounted on the vertical free edge wall of the door, a vertically slidable latch device means mounted on the outer side of said plate portion for movement between a door latched and a door unlatched position, said latch device means having a striker engaging portion at the lower end thereof, spring means urging said latch device means into door latched position, a first lever means pivotally mounted on the inner side of said plate portion and having a blocking portion, one of said means having a part thereon projecting through an aperture in said plate portion and arranged in opposing relation to a part of the other means, said first lever means being shiftable by outer manually operable means to cause said parts to abut and raise the latch device means out of striker engagement and to move said blocking portion transversely of the door in the direction of the inner edge of the plate portion, and a second lever means pivotally mounted on said support and having a portion shiftable in one direction into position between said blocking portion and the inner edge of said plate portion to block movement of said first lever means and thereby render the same inoperative to move said latch device means to door unlatched position, said second lever means being shiftable in the opposite direction out of blocking position with respect to said first lever means into position to move said latch device means into door unlatched position independently of said first lever means, said second lever means when in blocking position having a part engageable by said latch device means upon movement of the latter in unlatching direction to move said second lever means out of blocking position with respect to said first lever means.

5. In a latch mechanism for a swinging door, a support having a main plate portion and a flange portion angularly related thereto, said main plate portion being adapted to be mounted in juxtaposition to the vertical free edge wall of the door, a vertically slidable latch device mounted on the outer side of said main plate portion for movement between a door latched and a door unlatched position, said latch device having a striker engaging portion at the lower end thereof, spring means housed between a portion of said latch device and said main plate portion for urging said latch device into door latched position, an

actuator mounted on the inner side of saidvplate portion and having a blocking portion, said actuator having a part-thereofprojecting through an-aperture-in said plate portion and arranged in opposing relation to apart of said latch'device, said actuator being shiftable by outerrnanu- 'ally operable means to cause said parts to abut and raise the latch device out of striker engagementto move said blocking portion transversely of the door in the direction of the inner edge of the plate portion, and an inner manually operable member mounted on said flange portion and having a portion shiftable'in one direction into position between said blocking portion and the inner edge of said main plate portion to block movement of said actuator and thereby render the same inoperative to move said latch device to a door unlatched position,'saidinner manually operable member being shiftable in the opposite direction out of blocking position with respect to said actuator and'into position to move said latch device into door unlatched position independently of said actuator.

6. In a'latch mechanism for a swinging door, a support having a main plate portion and a flange portion angularly related thereto, said main plate portion being adaptedto be mounted in juxtaposition to the vertical free edge Wall of the door, a vertically slidable latch device mounted on the outer side of said main plateiportion for movement between a door latched anda door unlatchedposition, said latch device having a striker engaging portion at the lower end thereof, spring means housed between a portion of said latch device and said main plate portion for urging said latch device into door latched position, an

actuator mounted on the'inner side of said plate portion and having a-blocking portion, said actuator having a part thereof projecting through an aperture in said plate portion andarranged in opposing relation to a part of said latch device, said actuator being shiftable by outer manually operable-means to cause saidparts to abut and raise the latch device out of striker engagement to move said blocking portion transversely of the door in the direction of the inner edge of the plate portion, and an inner manually operable member mounted on said flange portion and having a portion shiftable in'one direction into position between said blocking portion and the inner edge of said main-plate'portion to block movement of said actuator and thereby render the same inoperative to move sai latch device to a door unlatched position, said inner manually operable member being shiftable in the opposite direction outof blocking-position with respect to said actuator and into position to move said latch device into door unlatched position independently of said actuator, said innermanually-operablemember when in blocking position'having-a part engageable by said latch device up onmovement of the latter in 'unlatching direction to move said member out of blocking position with respect to said actuator.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,010,702 Rightrnyer Aug. 6, 1935 2,270,559 Rolphet al I an. 20, 1942 2,557,468 'Roethel- June 19, 1951 on m. up 

